Apple has finally struck deals with Canada's banks to bring its mobile payments services to the country's Visa, MasterCard and Interac cardholders.
From this week customers of Royal Bank of Canada, Cibc, ATB Financial and Canadian Tire Bank can make online and contactless instore payments with their iPhones and Apple watches.
'Big five' members Bank of Montreal, TD Bank and Scotiabank are all set to follow suit in the coming months, enabling customers to add their MasterCard and Visa credit cards and Interac debit cards to their handsets.
Linda Mantia, EVP, digital, payments and cards, RBC, says: "We're happy to provide RBC clients with convenience and choice of using Apple Pay. As mobile payments technology continues to mature in Canada, these kinds of innovative payment solutions give clients the ability to make mobile transactions seamless."
Apple Pay arrived in Canada late last year but was restricted to American Express cardholders as banks concentrated on their own mobile wallets and haggled over interchange fee details.
The wider launch was also delayed by the involvement of Interac, the Canadian debit network, which worked with IBM, Bell ID and Everlink to build a Token Service Provider to validate Apple Pay transactions with one-time unique tokens.
Mark O'Connell, CEO, Interac Association and Acxsys Corporation, says: "Interac, when paired with Apple Pay, will bring mobile payments into the 'everyday' and allow Canadians to experience enhanced simplicity and ease when paying with Interac."